The Promised Land
by Mint
Summary: Zack would be dead if she hadn't come down from the Promised Land to help him. But now that she's on Gaia she can't go back home and the rules of the Promised Land are clear, they can't be together.
1. Who are you?

**The Promised Land**

**Chapter 1**

**Who Are You?**

The sun ushered in a peaceful calm on the Promised Land. From the garden, several large trees arose, their leaves rustling as a warm breeze wafted through the garden. The whooshing sound the leaves made as they mingled was peaceful, and the fresh smell of the scarlet roses delighted everyone that passed by the garden. The sky was a light blue smudged with tiny ivory clouds, while high towers tore into the vast space above, their pasty colors fading into the horizon. From her balcony, she closed her eyes and breathed in the day, feeling the sunlight hitting softly on her face. Her rosy pink lips turned into a smile as she embraced the morning light.

When she turned sixteen, four years ago, she was granted with the possibility of choosing someone from Gaia that she could watch over and from all the people that passed by her eyes back then, there was one that she grew fonder of. Just watching him smile brought light into her life, his kind turquoise eyes were hypnotizing to her and his optimistic way of living made her admire him from high up her room. She knew she wasn't supposed to get that attached to the people under their guard but not a day went by since she found him, that she didn't look for him or see if he needed her help. The bond between them was far stronger than what she could imagine and yet he had no idea about it. The thought of meeting him in person had never even crossed her mind before.

Every Cetra had a person to look after on Gaia, she just couldn't guess that that day, she would meet hers. All it took her until then was close her eyes and concentrate on the person she had chosen.

* * *

Zack Fair was late for work once again. He had fallen asleep while watching movies on the television into the late hours of the night. He woke up startled, and looked at his alarm clock for the second time when he saw how late it was. He jumped out of bed making the girl sleeping next to him mumble some inaudible words of discontent. Her usually big brown eyes now looked up at him, squinting. She saw her boyfriend quickly and clumsily pulling his soldier pants up to tighten his belt. The bedroom was mainly dark as the closed shutters only let in a faint light from the street.

"Late again?" The girl shook her head and rested her chin on her hand from under the ruffled white sheets.

"Yeah." Zack was popping his head through the collar of his black turtle-neck shirt now. "Go back to sleep Cissnei, it's still early." He reached down on the bed again and kissed her forehead.

"What time are you coming back?" She asked, her voice still rough from sleeping.

"You know… The same time as always, at night." He replied with a wink. She sighed and dropped her head on the pillow.

"I can't stay here tonight though…" Her voice muffled as she spoke into the pillow, so she lifted her head again to make sure he had heard her.

"Oh, really?" He peeked from the bathroom while he was brushing his teeth to look at her with inquisitive piercing blue eyes.

"Yes… well, my parents are starting to ask questions you know…" She replied. "I can't be staying over at Rosie's all the time."

"So tell them the truth!" He exclaimed after drying his mouth with the towel.

"You know it's not that easy. You're a twenty-one-year-old SOLDIER." She said as if she was stating the obvious. "They wouldn't approve of you… not only are you a little older than me, but mostly because they don't like SOLDIERs."

"Well, I'd make them change their minds about that as soon as they met me." Zack said grinning. He leaned down to give her a quick kiss, but she was quicker than him as she placed her arms around his waist and pulled him towards her causing him to fall onto her and the bed once again. "So you won't be here tonight?" He asked looking down at her face.

"Sorry…" She said apologetically. He shook his head and, smiling, he leaned in to kiss her fully on her lips.

Then he jumped up from the bed and left his apartment in a hurry taking a bite of an apple he fetched from the kitchen. As the elevator went down, he quickly fixed his spiky black hair in its mirrored walls.

Zack was a 1st class SOLDIER working for the ShinRa company. He took his job very seriously when he wasn't sleeping in the mornings. He climbed onto his black motorbike, started the engine, and sped off towards ShinRa's headquarters in Midgar. Today they were going to Junon as there was important cargo to inspect from the importing boats as well as people to interrogate. When Zack arrived at the parking lot, and stopped his motorbike, he cursed himself for getting there late as his carpool ride to Junon was nowhere to be found. He went inside the building to ask about it and the receptionist told him they had already left for Junon.

"Damn you Angeal for not waiting!" He mumbled under his breath. Taking his cell phone from his pocket, he found about ten messages from Angeal, all asking about his current whereabouts. The final message indicated that they were leaving because they couldn't wait any longer. Zack's favorite line was : "You're so buying me lunch for making me save your ass, I told them you would meet us there that you were already on your way. You better be there soon, you're lucky these goons aren't that bright."

"Right!" Zack exclaimed, mounting his motorbike again, already grinning from the thought of being able to drive with abandon on the desert highway.

* * *

After they had completed their mission, it was already night when they were finally free to go back home, and there was still a long way to go as it would take him two and a half hours to get back to Midgar. Zack felt tired, but he didn't mind riding all the way back. He was actually glad that he didn't have to share the car with other two infantrymen as Angeal had to, which was more than enough motive for him to tease his friend. When he hit the road he immediately sped up to distance himself from the slower car behind him, which Angeal was driving. As he passed by their car he gave Angeal a mockingly thumbs up and sped up his engine leaving a cloud of dust behind for his friend to drive through. Angeal rolled his eyes and mumbled a "How immature…" under his breath.

Zack was usually careful when he rode his motorbike, even though it was well equipped to handle the roughest terrain, which was reason enough for him to ride it fast. About halfway through the trip, his eyelids started to feel heavy. He hadn't realized just how tired he really was. When the motorbike's light fell on the dark figure of a large animal on the road, Zack didn't have enough time to stop, so he swerved to the right and felt the tires skidding down the hill. He watched as a withered tree came rapidly closer and finally was able to jump out of the motorbike before it crashed into the tree. He rolled down the hill until some heavy object painfully pierced through his back and made him stop. He tiredly closed his eyes as his vision filled with blood. His whole body ached with pain and then suddenly, he was engulfed by darkness.

When Zack started waking up, he wasn't sure if everything had been a bad dream or for how long he had been out, but one thing he knew for certain was that he wasn't feeling any pain like the one he felt before and there was a bright white light burning his eyelids. He heard a soft voice call his name but he was afraid to open his eyes and see the dire situation he was in, it probably was worse than he thought. As he slowly opened his eyes, he found someone staring down at him from the bright light.

"That voice… Who are you?" He asked feeling his head a little dizzy. He forced his eyes to focus and tried to sit up. No pain and he could move. _Well, that's odd, _he thought. When he could finally make out the person sitting in front of him, he found himself facing a beautiful emerald-eyed young woman with straight long chestnut brown hair staring kindly back at him. Her red lips were pressed in an encouraging smile and her hand was softly resting on his knee. They stared at each other quietly for a moment. Zack blinked, confused about who she could be and at the same time bewildered at her beauty while the girl just smiled at him.

He finally broke the silence, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Am I dead? I ended up in Heaven after all!"

"No silly!" The girl laughed. "I came to your aid, you'll be fine."

"What do you mean you came to my aid?" Zack looked around the dusty place to find his motorbike and saw it in pristine condition, as if he hadn't seen it the night before crashing into pieces against a tree. The crash marks were still there down the hill, the tires' skid marks could be seen on the sand going towards the tree which was shattered into pieces and yet he was there safe and sound, as was his motorbike.

"Well, you had a pretty nasty accident last night," the girl replied. "But I came to save you. I am responsible for you."

"You mean… like a guardian angel? Where did you come from?" Zack was getting more and more confused. He scanned his arms and legs for bruises and touched his forehead expecting to feel blood, but there was nothing. Not even a tiny scratch.

"Kind of like a guardian angel, yes . Except I'm a Cetra. I come from the Promised Land where we protect people on Gaia," she informed him.

"Yeah I heard about that place in ShinRa before… Just didn't know it actually existed," Zack wondered out loud. "A-are you sure I just didn't hit my head pretty hard?"

"I can assure you I'm real." Aerith smiled at him and placed his hand over her own, covering her heart, so that he could feel it beating.

"He-hey!" Zack's face immediately flushed red at the proximity of his hand to her breasts, covered by a form fitting white dress. But there it was, her strong and even heartbeat just like she had said. She was real. He looked up from their hands to her face while he realized that this woman, Cetra or Human, had saved his life. "Thank you!" He promptly said, straightening up, but he knew he would never be able to repay her and in turn he would owe her for the rest of his life.

"Don't mention it." She shook her head and let go of his hand. "I'm Aerith Gainsborough."

"Ah yes, I'm Zack Fair… but you probably knew that already." The spiky-haired man replied smiling back at her. "Did you… do that to my bike too?"

"It was in such a bad state…" Aerith nodded, which made Zack wonder just how strong her Cetra powers really were.

"Thank you again… but I better get back home…" Zack scratched the back of his head and rose to his feet feeling as fit as ever. "Where are you going now? I can drop you off where you want."

"I… I guess I have nowhere to go to." Aerith looked down thoughtfully. "I left the Promised Land for you so I won't be able to go back that soon. You know, you have done a lot of recklessness in your life before but I have to say this one was by far the most serious one! In order to save you I had to leave the Promised Land because my powers wouldn't be as great from there. This situation… needed a more personal intervention. But once I leave the Promised Land I can't go back that easily… I'll have to watch over you from here for a while. I guess I need to find a place to live in then…"

"Don't worry about that!" Zack lifted her chin with his fingers and smiled widely at her. "You can stay at my place as long as you want!"

"Really?" Aerith smiled back and Zack nodded reassuringly. "If you don't mind that… thank you."

"Alright then, that's settled! But wait a minute… what did you mean I have done a lot of reckless things before?" Zack asked and Aerith sighed thinking about all those times he gave her quite the scare.

"I think you know what I'm talking about, going into fights with men stronger than you on your missions, picking on monsters on purpose just for the fun of fighting them, crashing down roofs! There was even this incident with a pirana in an aquarium once…"

"Well I wanted to see just how strong its bite really was!" Zack shrugged laughing. "My finger ached for a week though… You watched all that, huh?"

"Don't think I'm a stalker or anything…" Aerith looked down blushing. "I was just making sure nothing bad happened to you."

"I know… But as long as you didn't watch EVERYTHING!" Zack watched as the girl shook her head quickly while her cheeks turned bright red. "Just kidding!" He laughed and took her hand to pull her towards the motorbike. "You better hold on tight!"

Aerith felt a little apprehensive for mounting the bike with Zack at first. He wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and she wasn't used to that kind of proximity with another person. Unlike earlier, he was riding the motorbike with extra care so as not to scare her, which in turn made her trust him. It was all still a little fresh in his mind but as time went by it amazed him that out of the millions of people on Gaia, he was lucky enough to score a guardian angel. He wondered if everyone was granted someone like Aerith, but he would have time to ask her all those questions later. Zack thought about how good it felt to have her warm breath on the back of his neck and the warmth of her body on his back which suddenly made him remember the few times he rode with Cissnei.

_That's right… Cissnei!_

_

* * *

_

**Author's note **(they're back! :D): I wasn't planning on writing anything soon but this idea came to my mind and I couldn't help myself on writing another Zack/Aerith story! I guess I'll write a Zack/Aerith then a Cloud/Aerith then a Zack/Aerith again from now on since I like them both so much! Many answers as to who Aerith is and does will be answered in later chapters! Thank you so much for reading and please tell me what you think of the first chapter! Many thanks to my great beta reader, the one and only **chibipinkbunny**! :D She is amazing and she's helping me a lot! I'd have to get her thousands of red pens if she corrected things the old fashioned way! lol Thank you so much!


	2. Welcome

**The Promised Land**

**Chapter 2**

**Welcome**

"_Hey Cissnei…!" Zack laughed nervously. "Listen… this is Aerith and she's going to live with me for a while…" Zack swallowed hard knowing Cissnei was not going to approve. He had a soft spot for pretty girls, which made Cissnei jealous at times. When they were out, he couldn't even look at another girl without her getting upset. _

"_What do you mean she's going to live with you? In your house? With you?" Cissnei asked threateningly, not believing what she had just heard her boyfriend say. She gave Aerith the once-over, and then gazed at her menacingly. "You know you only have one bedroom don't you, Zack?" Cissnei started closing in on Zack. He stepped back once he saw the stern look on her face, eyes squinted with fury and her lips pressed firmly together. He knew that look; it usually meant he was in trouble and there would be no sleeping together for a while. But he could have sworn her eyes flashed red momentarily. "Is there any specific reason why __Aerith__…" The girl's name came out as a slithering hiss. She glared at Zack. "… is staying with you?" _

"_She- she needs a place to stay for a while," Zack stammered. "I volunteered to help."_

"_Oh great. And since when did you start becoming a humanitarian?" Cissnei asked sarcastically. She backed him up against a wall. Zack realized with fatalistic certainty that he was trapped. He shut his eyes and prepared for the worst._

_

* * *

_

"Zack?" A soft voice called his name. "Are you alright?"

When Zack opened his eyes again, he noticed he was standing in front of the door to his house with key in hand. He turned to the side and met a pair of emerald green eyes staring back at him in confusion. Cissnei wasn't anywhere around so he must have been daydreaming.

"Yeah…" He shook his head. _I must be really tired… _He turned the key and pushed the door open, popping his head inside first to see if there was any sign of Cissnei.

"So this is my home." Zack finally made room for Aerith to walk in, turning the lights on as he did. The young woman looked around the hall, paying close attention to the pictures hung on the pasty colored walls. One in particular drew her attention, a photo of Zack with two other men beside him wearing what seemed like the same uniform. One of them looked older than Zack, was taller, and had short black hair, the youngest appearing one had spiky blond hair. She also noticed they all shared the same deep blue gleam in their eyes.

"Who are they?" She asked curiously.

"Oh… They're my friends, Angeal and Cloud." Zack looked at the picture for a moment and Aerith noticed the look on his eyes changed. He gazed blankly at the picture as if what he was seeing wasn't the faces of the people in it but as if his mind had taken him beyond the people in it, someplace far, maybe a distant memory.

Although she could see Zack from the Promised Land, she never dared search his private life, she felt it wasn't right to do so. This was the first time she had laid eyes on the inside of his house and she wondered how much of his life she had been missing out. Zack showed her around his bedroom, the living room, the kitchen and finally he showed her where the bathroom was. It wasn't a very big apartment but it seemed large enough for one person. There was enough space in the living room for a balcony beyond the sliding glass doors and a fireplace by the couch.

"I noticed you don't really have luggage… So I guess I have to take you shopping at some point." Zack scratched the back of his head as he looked at the empty hands of his new roommate.

"Thank you for letting me stay here." She smiled.

"It's the least I can do!" Zack grinned. "I owe you..." There was an awkward moment of silence between the two as he looked down at her. She seemed happy to be there, her eyes shimmered in the light of the ceiling lamps as she looked around examining the place while her lips were pressed in a curious smile. "Hey…" Zack broke the silence looking away. "You can stay in my room, I'll take the couch."

"Oh no Zack… I can take the couch, I don't mind," she promptly said and quickly sat on the two-seated white couch. "It's very comfortable," she said, feeling the fabric with her hand.

"That's out of the question!" Zack exclaimed and pulled her up taking her hand. "As if I'd let a cute girl sleep on my couch! I'm a gentleman Aerith, they always take the bed." Zack confidently said before he realized his choice of words. "No-not that I always have girls sleeping here." Zack stammered embarrassedly and Aerith laughed letting him pull her towards the bedroom.

"Well, if you insist." Aerith finally accepted sleeping on the couple-sized bed. "Thank you, you're being so nice!"

"Don't worry." Zack shook his head. "Plus, the couch turns into a bed, I'll just have to open it."

"Do you think I can take a shower then?" Aerith asked as they returned to the living-room.

"Sure!" Zack's thoughts immediately went to Aerith naked in his bathtub with water running down her smooth skin, and he cursed himself for thinking about it. "There are towels and bathrobes in the drawers under the sink. Make yourself at home Aerith, you live here now!"

As soon as the young Cetra closed the door of the bathroom behind her, Zack fell on the couch with a heavy sigh. _What were you thinking, thinking of her like that?_ He cursed himself inwardly. _Aerith is… And you have Cissnei! _He stared at the bathroom door and soon heard the sound of running water. _This is going to be harder than I thought. . . _He sighed.

About one hour later, Aerith was still taking a shower. Zack was just about to check up on her when she emerged from the bathroom. He had already set the pizza box he had ordered on the coffee table between the couch and the television. It was only when she sat next to him on the couch he noticed she was wearing nothing but one of his white bathrobes, and her long hair was still wet and pulled to the side. She smelled of his shower gel, and her cheeks were a little flushed from the steam that had formed inside the bathroom. Zack's blood immediately started rushing with desire. _Just when I thought I was doing some progress. Come on Zack! Think about… Maybe naked Angeal! Ewwww! Talk about breaking the mood. _

"What is that?" Her voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What do you mean what is that?" Zack blinked. "You never had pizza?"

"Is that what you call it?" She pointed to the round pizza pie on the coffee table.

"Here, try it." He sliced her a piece and handed it to her in a napkin.

She stared at it for a couple of seconds, contemplating, but after seeing him take a bite she decided it was edible. He watched her chew and expected a reaction. "It's good!" She exclaimed and he grinned.

"I know right?" Zack nodded. "You don't have things like this in the… the Promised Land?"

"No…" Aerith shook her head as she chewed on another bite. "I've never tasted anything like this before."

"But you have food there don't you?" Zack asked intrigued.

"Yes, of course." Aerith replied. "Just not this kind of food."

"Now you know what you've been missing." Zack said with his mouth full of pizza.

"I have to take one there and have them try some!" Aerith smiled softly while watching him eat eagerly.

"Can you?" Zack asked, pausing to swallow.

"I don't know, I'll have to try when I'm able to go back, "Aerith answered with a shrug.

"When do you think that will be possible?" Zack asked curiously.

"I don't really know, I have never left home before… I guess that when I can go back I'll be given some sort of sign, " she replied thoughtfully. Even after living in the Promised Land for her whole life, how Cetras were able to return to the homeland once they came to Gaia. The fact that she might not even be able to return to the Promised Land scared her, but what was even more frightening was the thought of leaving Zack. All the time she spent watching over him, without being able to touch him or talk to him now seemed like a distant reality she wasn't ready to go back to just yet. Now she was there with him and that was worth more than leaving.

"Aerith… Let's keep this thing of you being a Cetra to ourselves for now ok?" Zack proposed. He needed to protect her now; people weren't used to these kinds of things. Aerith agreed.

"So, are you ready to go to bed?" Zack asked, after they cleared the table and put away the garbage.

"Yes, you must be tired," Aerith stated.

"Ah that's right, you don't have anything to sleep in yet," Zack remembered. "Wait here, I think I have something that might do for now."

When he came back, Zack handed her a white shirt he hadn't worn for a while. "It will probably be a little large for you, but I didn't really have anything else you could wear as pajamas."

"It's perfect." Aerith accepted the shirt with a kind smile, and Zack couldn't help but wonder what she might look like wearing his shirt with nothing underneath. Her skin in direct contact with the same shirt he had worn so many times.

Suddenly, he could feel the blood rushing through his veins, and the room felt suddenly warm. "Ok then, goodnight!" He quickly turned her around and gave her a soft push towards his bedroom. "Of all the people in the world… Are you testing me God?" he sighed under his breath when she was out of sight.

Aerith sat on the bed. After putting on Zack's shirt, she noticed it had a musky scent, reminiscent of him. She looked around the room, illuminated by the faint orange light of the nightstand's lamp, and lay down with a sigh. She thought about her people and the harsh judgment they might have in store. She knew it hadn't been her fault; Zack needed her, what else could she have done? She also knew better than to get attached and there was a reason Cetras couldn't live amongst humans for extended periods of time. She closed her eyes but she wasn't going to fall asleep that easily. It was a new world she was in, a whole new world for her to explore.

* * *

Cissnei opened the door as soundlessly as she could so that she didn't wake her boyfriend up. It was still night outside and she was planning on sleeping next to him. She crossed the living room in the dark and headed straight to the bedroom, once again opening the door carefully. She took off her boots and pants and pulled the sheets to the side. She slipped into the bed and began searching for Zack underneath the sheets. Her hands finally reached a warm body and she curled up behind it placing one arm around what she thought was her boyfriend's upper body. But there was something strange about him, she realized. She started feeling his body with her hands before she noticed he had boobs. Not the usual chiseled pectoral muscles she was used to, but soft fleshy breasts, the kind a girl would have.

"What the…?" Cissnei's eyes popped open, and she quickly sat up on the bed and reached for the lamp switch. She turned the light on and received an unpleasant surprise. Instead of Zack's muscular body, there was a girl, a pretty girl, sleeping in one of his shirts. "Who the hell are you!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. The golden brown-haired girl was roused from her sleep and slowly opened her eyes to find another girl sitting next to her, glaring at her.

"What's going on?" Zack quickly opened his bedroom door, his hair messy from sleep. Scratching his eyes with his knuckles, he asked "Cissnei? What are you doing?"

"Oh the nerve!" Cissnei jumped out of the bed while Aerith sat up. "Who is she? What is she doing in your bed wearing your shirt?"

"Ah, you've met Aerith." Zack said, acting nonchalant. "Aerith, this is my… my huuhh.."

"His _girlfriend_!" Cissnei snapped at Aerith, who looked at Zack and then Cissnei in confusion. "You better have one hell of an excuse Zack Fair." Cissnei grabbed Zack's hand and pulled him out of the bedroom.

"I know what this looks like, but it's not what you're thinking!" Zack tried to explain.

"Oh really?" Cissnei crossed her arms over her chest. "Enlighten me then, Zack."

"The thing is… Aerith needed some place to stay for a while." Zack bit his lower lip. "I met her in one of my missions and she needed help, I couldn't just leave her there without some place to go could I?" He didn't like lying, but in this case he knew Cissnei wouldn't understand who Aerith really was. "It's just for a while. Come on, you have nothing to worry about." He reached for her and brushed his fingers against her cheek. He knew perfectly well how to persuade a woman using his charm. "Trust me on this one, ok?"

"It's just for a little while?" Cissnei asked, looking up at him. She knew she couldn't resist the pleading look in his eyes; he was just like a puppy begging for treats.

"Yes." He slowly leaned in to kiss her and she let him, wondering if she was about to make a big mistake. "Give her a chance ok? Maybe you could even be friends."

"I doubt that, but ok. For you," Cissnei finally gave in. "Sorry I overreacted a bit, but you know your reputation with the ladies! I freaked out."

"I-I'm sorry I scared you." Aerith's soft voice interrupted, coming from the bedroom door. Her cheeks were red with embarrassment.

"It's ok, " Cissnei replied, turning towards her. "I'm sorry I yelled too." She gave her a forced smile. "Well, I better go then since there's no room for me to stay. I'll meet you later, after my classes?" Cissnei turned to Zack who nodded. Cissnei gave him a deep lingering kiss and turned to grab her clothes from the bedroom. After she came back, she waved slightly at Aerith and left the apartment.

"Well, that went well," Zack said, letting out a sigh.

"I better go Zack, I didn't know I would be giving you that much trouble. I'll find another place to stay somewhere. I'm sorry about this, I'll go get dressed." She turned around to go back to the bedroom.

"No! No, don't go!" Zack grabbed her hand. "Please… It was my entire fault, I totally forgot about Cissnei… again. I should have warned you and _her_ for that matter."

"Zack, she was clearly not happy that I'm staying here and I don't want to upset someone you care about." Aerith had a sick feeling inside her stomach, and she wondered if it was just because of what had just happened.

"Aerith, you're not going anywhere, I won't let you. I want you to stay. I _need_ you to stay." Zack's voice came out too much like a plea, as if he couldn't afford losing her. "What I mean is…" He cleared his throat, "you don't know anyone here, and it's still pitch-black outside. Where would you go at this hour? Just give Cissnei some time to clear her head, it will be fine. Please I'm asking you, stay."

"Zack, I-" Aerith started. _I can't… _

"Just say you'll stay, " Zack interrupted her. His deep blue eyes looked intently at her, as if he was trying to reach her soul. She finally sighed, looking away from his hypnotic gaze.

She was already too much attached.

* * *

**Note**: Thank you everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it! It's always good to know what people think! Thank you very much **chibipinkbunny** for beta reading! What would I be without you? =) Next chapter Zack will take Aerith shopping! Thank you for reading!


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